The goal of this study is to compare three methods of teaching medical and nursing students basic life saving skills. The standard method will teach students how to push on the chest and to analyze the heart rhythm using a regular monitor. The newer approach will teach the same skills but use a special heart monitor that provides both visual and verbal reminders. The third approach will combine both the standard and newer approaches to teaching. Our study would like to find out the better way to teach these skills and to create a standard way to grade how well students perform. This study will measure how deep and how fast the students push on the manikin's chest in a certain amount of time. Other goals include measuring how well the students use the heart monitor to deliver shocks and analyze the heart rhythm, how many breaths per minute they give, how long their hands are off the manikin and how well they think they performed overall.

A "feedback" defibrillator (ZOLL R series) will be used at teaching, immediate testing and 12 week (retention) testing. A simulation manikin with an attached accelerometer pad on its sternum will be used to collect CPR performance data. Subjects will be told to perform compressions on top of the accelerometer pad and will be taught to use and follow the audio and visual feedback to optimize their CPR performance. After training, the raw data collected by the accelerometer will be used as a demonstration and training tool, to correct the subjects' performance by visually demonstrating the difference between ideal and suboptimal CPR performance. Testing will be carried out with the use of a "feedback" defibrillator.

Procedure: Feedback during CPR training

Students in this group will receive training in BLS skills according to the 2005 AHA/ILCOR guidelines, using the ZOLL R Series™ defibrillator with an attached accelerometer pad that will be placed on the sternum of the manikin and visible to the user. Students will be told to perform compressions on top of the accelerometer pad. Participants will be taught to use and follow the audio and visual feedback provided by the accelerometer and defibrillator to optimize their CPR performance (depth, rate, and minimal "hands-off" time). After the simulated cardiac arrest scenario, a data card containing the raw data collected from the accelerometer and defibrillator will be downloaded onto a laptop and used as a demonstration and training tool. This data will be used to correct the students' performance by visually demonstrating the difference between ideal and suboptimal CPR performance.

Procedure: Feedback During CPR Testing

Students in this group will be tested using a five minute basic vfib arrest scenario and an R-series defibrillator and told to perform compressions on top of the accelerometer pad. The hexagonal icon will be visible but no prompting on its usage will be delivered during testing.

Other Name: Feedback during simulation testing

Active Comparator: Feedback during CPR Training Not Testing

A "feedback" defibrillator will be used for teaching, with a standard no "feedback" defibrillator used at immediate and 12 week (retention) testing to assess if the techniques the students' learned during training are transferable to devices without "feedback". In order to collect CPR performance data, a simulation manikin with an attached accelerometer pad hidden from view within its chest will be used. Subjects will be told to perform compressions on top of the manikin's chest.

Procedure: Feedback during CPR training

Students in this group will receive training in BLS skills according to the 2005 AHA/ILCOR guidelines, using the ZOLL R Series™ defibrillator with an attached accelerometer pad that will be placed on the sternum of the manikin and visible to the user. Students will be told to perform compressions on top of the accelerometer pad. Participants will be taught to use and follow the audio and visual feedback provided by the accelerometer and defibrillator to optimize their CPR performance (depth, rate, and minimal "hands-off" time). After the simulated cardiac arrest scenario, a data card containing the raw data collected from the accelerometer and defibrillator will be downloaded onto a laptop and used as a demonstration and training tool. This data will be used to correct the students' performance by visually demonstrating the difference between ideal and suboptimal CPR performance.

Procedure: No Feedback During CPR Testing

A standard no "feedback" defibrillator (ZOLL M series) will be used for immediate testing and 12 week (retention) testing.

Placebo Comparator: No Feedback Group

A standard no "feedback" defibrillator (ZOLL M series) will be used for teaching, immediate testing and 12 week (retention) testing. In order to collect CPR performance data, a simulation manikin with an attached accelerometer pad hidden from view within its chest will be used. Subjects will be told to perform compressions on top of the manikin's chest. During the test, subjects will be informed that data on their performance will be recorded but they will not be told how this will occur.

Procedure: No Feedback during CPR Testing or Training

A standard no "feedback" defibrillator (ZOLL M series) will be used for teaching, immediate testing and 12 week (retention) testing. In order to collect CPR performance data, a simulation manikin with an attached accelerometer pad hidden from view within its chest will be used. Subjects will be told to perform compressions on top of the manikin's chest. During the test, subjects will be informed that data on their performance will be recorded but they will not be told how this will occur.

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Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01361919